Strand Gets Ready To Rock
Written By: Dawn Bryant
Myrtle Beach has seen its share of tour buses, but never one like this.
The Magical Mystery Tour bus - a psychedelic relic that toted the Beatles around Liverpool in the 1967 flim by the same name - has found its way to the Grand Strand.
The rumbling roadster is the first piece of rock 'n' roll history to call the future Hard Rock Park home. The $400 million park, touted as the largest single tourism investment in South Carolina, is scheduled to open in spring 2008 and will employ 3,000 people.
The bright blue and sunflower-yellow bus with rainbow letters, which has been on display at the Hard Rock Cafe in Orlando, Fla., since 1993, rolled in Thursday, dramatically dropping off Gov. Mark Sanford and his sons for the park's groundbreaking party at Fantasy Harbour.
The one-of-a-kind bus fit right in with the blaring music, confetti and sand sculpture of rock legends that set the rock 'n' roll tone of Thursday's event. Officials used Gibson guitars fashioned with shovel heads to ceremoniously turn dirt on the much anticipated park, the first one in the world bearing the popular Hard Rock name.
"I am here to say, 'Thank you' to the local dreamers," Sanford said after posing with a guitar for photographers. "At times they felt like they were on the Magical Mystery Tour bus and didn't know where it was stopping."
Park developers have traveled a bumpy road to get shovels in the ground, overcoming hurdles in raising enough money for the 140-acre park while trying to convince skeptic locals that this theme park plan wouldn't fail like the many others that came before it.
Despite delays, Hard Rock - which lent its name and memorabilia to the park, but no money - never considered pulling out or moving the project to another destination, said Oliver Munday, Hard Rock's vice president of franchise operations and development.
"It has been a long time coming, but good things take time," Munday said.
In addition to the Beatles' bus, Jimi Hendrix items also will have a presence at the park, though officials wouldn't say what they will be. The park will have 40 attractions in six zones, including a roller coaster, restaurants, stores and an amphitheater.
"We think it is going to be a great park, and Jimi should be there," said Bob Hendrix, a first cousin of Jimi Hendrix and vice president of Experience Hendrix, which handles the revolutionary guitarist's estate.
The park will be the first major addition for Grand Strand tourists in several years.
"The one thing we don't have is a theme park," said Dick Rosen, an investor in the Hard Rock Park. "This will be an attraction that people will come to see."
Source: The Sun News. June 14, 2006.
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